Philosophy

When we were a record store, and a music magazine, this section of our website was mostly about music.

Things have changed.

Here, at Analog Revolution, we have a few tenets by which we live our lives, run our businesses, and conduct ourselves politically. Some of these ideas are fairly traditional, others seem almost radical when compared to the status quo. We felt like it sharing this here would help everyone understand a little more of what we are about.

DIY

Seriously, if you can do something yourself, fucking do it. If you can’t do it yourself, find someone that can when possible. It’s about economics. Right now, we give a lot of money (and therefore power) to a very small number of folks. We take money (and therefore power) that belongs within our communities, and we allow it to be concentrated at the top of the pyramid. The more we build together, the stronger our communities become. This idea can extend further than most people realize. Anything that is hand-made or independently produced, outside of the entrenched power-structures represented by corporate conglomerates can represent an actual loss to the corporations that currently buy and sell us.

The more we can do ourselves, the stronger our movement becomes.

Technology isn’t the enemy

That might sound like a weird point coming from the “Analog Revolution”, but it’s true. Technology isn’t, itself, the enemy. Technology is a tool. It can be used by the enemy (be that enemy political, corporate, or individual), to track us, to coerce us, and to harm us. We must take every action available to prevent that.

But tech can also be used by communities to build neat stuff, and distribute it more effectively than ever before. We must understand, and embrace technology.

Fix it, don’t nix it.

In general,we feel it’s better to fix something and keep it out of a landfill than to trash it and buy another. Plus, this keeps the amount of money made by our looming corporate oligarchs to a minimum. It’s fun. It’s important. It keeps your money in your pocket, and in your community.

We believe in local businesses

Wherever we possibly can, we buy things close to home. We like to support small businesses the world over, because that means more money in our communities (and with our musicians and artists) and less sitting in the bank account of some big shot 1%er. Money spent at a local business tends to circulate around the community for much longer than money sucked down the corporate drain–and that helps out everyone.

We believe in community

That’s why we’re doing this. We want to help foster a creative, supportive, friendly community for people that like music. We want everyone to feel welcome. We want everyone to have access to the music they want. Share your stories, show us your colors.

For us, at least, it’s not about money

We aren’t in this to get rich. If we were, we’d be in a different business entirely. We want to pay our employees a living wage and we want to make sure that the artists that work with us can afford to put food on the table. Aside from that, our primary goal is to ensure that everyone has the tools that they need to be safe, and happy, regardless of how “Great” America gets.

Ask Questions. That’s an imperative.

Seriously, ask us questions. About anything. No one can know everything, but we’ve got a lot of folks here that have been playing this game for years. Let us share our expertise in order to make your experience the best it can be.

If that sounds like a bunch of communist propaganda to you, you’re only a little wrong. We’re not, intrinsically, a communist organization. Most of us are, however, of the opinion that capitalism has outlived it’s usefulness.

Modern Capitalism created Modern Poverty, and it’s killing us. We’re here to help stoke the engines of the movement that will ensure that we outlive capitalism.